Kings Arms 1 9 10 Seeking RAF Biggin Hill Walking Trail:1.6 miles Pub The Nightingale Cafe War Memorial - During the Second World War, the tearooms This war memorial was served tea and cake to the soldiers as well as unveiled on the 21st March welcoming passing trade. The cafe had an illegal 1923 to commemorate 32 Kings Arms Pub 1 2 fruit machine. The owner of the café gave a people from Biggin Hill who This pub was very popular bacon sandwich to anyone who scored three lost their lives during the b cherries in a row. The original Nightingale with pilots stationed at RAF c a e First World War. Later on, Biggin Hill. The building itself Vincent Café doesn’t exist any more but Biggin after the Second World War, Square Hill Memorial Museum’s cafe, named 27 new names were added has a long story dating back d f to 1585. On 18th August 1940, after the Nightingale Cafe, keeps its to the list in memory of legacy still alive. the Kings Arms experienced a h those who lost their lives. Vincent Square direct raid overhead. Customers g Vincent Square used to be the married Bill Blundell, Lou Deane and i quarters for RAF personnel. It has now 2 Barracks Block RAF Black Horse Pub landlord Fred Horwood suffered been developed for private housing. The 112 The Black Horse pub played the role of ‘dropping injuries from the machine gun of j remaining buildings date back to 1929. off point’ for buses coming to Biggin Hill. It was a a German Dornier. Bill lost part 3 popular pub for locals, soldiers and airmen. The You will notice some gaps in the line of of his leg, and tragically both original building was in 1908 and the the houses – this is the aftermath of Officers’ demolished Fred and Lou later died as a new Black Horse was built, which you can see today. bombing during the Second World War Mess 5 4 result of their wounds. 6 St George’s RAF Chapel where some houses were never rebuilt. of Remembrance 7 Teapot Gardens (now demolished) 12 3 8 On this site stood one of the most famous tearooms in Barracks Block RAF Biggin Hill Memorial Museum 4 the area, it was known as the Teapot Gardens. A huge 4ft Here you will see red-brick buildings Here you can discover the story of Britain’s teapot was mounted on the top of a long pole. During which were a part of the RAF West most famous fighter station through the personal Main Road the First and Second World Wars, units stationed at Biggin Hill Biggin Hill organised ‘moonlight raids’ - competitions Camp facilities. They were mostly experience of those who served there and the Saltbox Hill Memorial Museum to remove the teapot from the pole and bring it established during the post-1923 community that supported them. back to the airfield as a ‘prize’. expansion of the RAF. They operated as You will notice the Hurricane and Spitfire planes as workshops, barracks, hangars, offices and gate guardians – they are replicas of actual planes of a mess. Some of the buildings are now in Geoffrey Wellum and Peter Brothers – pilots who The Street names along the trail use by the Metropolitan Police. both served here during the Battle of Britain. Nightingale Many street names in the area are related to the history of RAF Biggin k Cafe Hill, commemorating pilots, personnel and places. A few examples are given below, but more detailed information can be found at www.bhmm. Building 33 Station HQ Officers’ Mess 5 l org.uk/trail Behind the tall fence, just in front of Dowding Road – Fighter Command Commander-in-Chief Air Chief St. George’s Chapel, you can see a red- Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding (1882-1970) conceived and oversaw the brick building which was used as the development of the ‘Dowding system’ - an integrated air defence system. Officers’ Mess. Dated around 1935, it is Henderson Grove – Corporal Elspeth Henderson (1913-2006) now used as a private residence. was one of the first three women in Britain to be awarded the Military 9 Medal, for refusing to leave her post in the operations room at Biggin m Hill after it took a direct hit during a German bombing raid. St George’s RAF Chapel of Remembrance – Air Chief Marshal Keith Park (1892-1975) 6 The St George’s RAF Chapel of Remembrance which War Memorial Keith Park Crescent was the commander of 11 Group during the Battle of Britain. His first you can see now replaced a temporary chapel located 10 operational responsibility was to improvise plans for the evacuation of on South Camp which was destroyed by fire in 1946. Allied troops from Dunkirk in May and June 1940. It was built in its current location in 1951 after a 11 – Air Commandant Felicity Hanbury MBE, (Later fundraising campaign led by Sir Winston Churchill as Hanbury Drive Dame Felicity Peake, 1913-2002), was a founding director of the a memorial to the aircrew who died flying from the Black Horse Pub Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF). Biggin Hill sector during the Second World War. – Wing Commander Richard “Dickie” Grice DFC, was A233 Grice Avenue Group Captain at RAF Biggin Hill from 1939 and then Biggin Hill station Building 33 7 Saltbox Hill commander from 1940. Every evening during the Battle of Britain he Station HQ This was the site of The Saltbox Tea 8 arranged a coach to take his pilots for a meal and to play a game of darts As you go along Main Rooms, a distinctive landmark for pilots at the White Hart (See driving trail). Road, you will notice returning to Biggin Hill. Originally two SAFETY many characteristic red cottages, it became a cafe before the ! NOTICE Street names g Moxey Close brick houses. They were RAF took it over in 1936. It was the Please be aware of other users built for the RAF but now only residential building on the airfield of the road, especially cars. Also, a Atkins Close h Keith Park Crescent they are abandoned and side of the road. It was demolished be prepared for unexpected b Henderson Grove i Grice Avenue noise and gusts of wind as you they are not accessible when the road was widened in 1954. walk around the edges of the c Mouchotte Close j Hanbury Drive to the public. One of The name Saltbox derives from the airfield. It is not advisable to Turner Avenue Churchill Way them is building 33, built salt box house – a building with walk in poor weather or at night. d k a tall upright shape and a steep, in 1933, as the station The trail is just under 2 miles 12 e Mortimer Drive l Wireless Road headquarters building. sloping roof. long so it should not take more Teapot than 1hr 30 mins. Gardens f Barwell Crescent m Dowding Road 1 Seeking RAF Biggin Hill - Driving Trail Chartwell 6 Chartwell was home to wartime Seeking RAF Prime Minister Winston Churchill A21 St Mary Cray Cemetery from 1924 until his death. Now St Mary Cray Cemetery the property is under the care 1 A232 This cemetery, also known as Orpington Cemetery, was Orpington of the National Trust. Biggin Hill used during the Second World War by RAF Biggin Hill. The A232 Visitors can see Churchill’s majority of its 59 war burials are of airmen. The average life 2 Addington study where he penned his expectancy of a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain was Towerfield wartime speeches. four weeks. Towerfield 3 Queen Victoria Hospital 2 The operations room and Met Office A21 7 51 Leaves The origins of the hospital can be traced back to Headquarters were relocated to Towerfield Green Rd 1863 but it had become well-known by the 1930s from Biggin Hill airfield after severe Hazelwood thanks to Archibald McIndoe and his pioneering bombing in August 1940. The Met. Office A233 plastic surgery techniques and holistic approach to was able to move back to the airfield from the treatment of allied aircrew during the Second Towerfield in late October 1944. Currently, The Old Jail Pub World War. McIndoe treated airmen who had the building is not publicly accessible. 4 suffered severe burns when the fuel tanks in their Biggin Hill aircraft caught fire. The unprotected hands and face of the pilots were usually the most severely burned 51 Leaves Green Rd and these injuries became known as ‘airman’s burn’. At this place, Dornier Do 17 Z-2 was shot down by 3 McIndoe is probably most well-known for his Hurricanes from 111 Squadron on 18th August 1940 – known pioneering treatments, including the introduction as the hardest day of the Battle of Britain. The Dornier of saline baths and the use of ‘tube pedicles’ for was part of a force sent to attack RAF Biggin Hill and RAF A233 Tatsfield skin grafts. He also arranged for patients to visit Kenley. Later it came under rifle fire from the 4th Battalion, M25 the White Hart pub to help them relax and mix Chislehurst, Kent Home Guard causing additional damage. with the locals. Due to the experimental work Walking & All five crew members became POWs. 5 Titsey The White performed on the men, patients became known as Hart Inn ‘McIndoe’s guinea pigs’. Driving Trails The injured airmen established the Guinea 4 5 Westerham A25 Pig Club (a support group) in 1957. A25 Oxted 6 Chartwell The Old Jail Pub The White Hart Inn The pub is believed to have (Brasted) been established in 1873.